Breaking News
by JerryGourd
Summary: Its nothing to be worried about...Right?
1. Chapter 1:Rumors

What is it about Guilt that has everyone all worked up?

She put her phone down, a heavy sigh escaping her lips. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot from the strain, but she couldn't stop reading; The contents of the thread were disgustingly morbid.

The virus turns the host's body into a weapon against itself.

While initially horrifying, she knew it wasn't anything to be alarmed by. It's just the description of some autoimmune disease or just one of those fucked up augmented reality games. Nothing to actually get worried about… right?

'Geez,' she thought, leaning back in her chair, 'if this 'Guilt' virus was actually a real thing, I can't even fathom the chaos that would happen.'

that didn't stop her imagination from running rampant, though, trying to imagine the reaction of the masses. Maybe it would be something like the reaction to the Ebola outbreak? That certainly was a strange thought; imagining all the panic from the Ebola outbreak years prior happening all over again. When news of Ebola first broke out, everyone was convinced the virus was going to engulf the US– that's how the media had portrayed it, anyways– but of course it never did. That didn't stop the tidal wave of mass hysteria that flooded the US, though. The idea of such a thing happening again, the idea of a super mutant, man-created virus that was capable of causing so much havoc… it was truly a chilling thought.

But she was no stranger to the internet. She was well familiar with the first unspoken rule; you can't believe everything you hear. She felt the saying was especially true for the stuff that was hidden in the dark, damp and somewhat sketchy recesses of 4chan.

Erin glanced at the time and heaved a tired sigh, her trembling and overworked hands closing her laptop and slipping it into its case. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and gave a momentary glance towards the medicine bottle sitting on the coffee table. She wondered if she should stay home today. She wasn't quite feeling her best, plus it would give her an excuse to look more into this blatantly false yet intriguing story…

She shook her head. 'Time won't stop moving for the flu, so why should it stop moving for some stupid virus?' She sighed, her boney pale fingers hiking the bag's strap up higher on her shoulder as she stepped into her shoes. Her mind wouldn't leave the thought of this 'Guilt', though.

'Ugh. Relax, Erin. It's not even real. Just… don't worry about it.'

She opened her apartment door, jerking to a halt mere feet from the doorway.

"Phone," she said, "phone, phone… right, can't forget the phone." She mumbled to herself, spinning around on her heel to walk back over to the small coffee table. She spotted the item and swiped it off the table, putting it securely in her pocket.

'Right. Okay.' She patted herself down, mentally going through the list of necessities one last time before deeming herself ready for the day. With one final glance back at her mostly-clean apartment, she closed the door and began her rhythmic, daily route down to the metro.

The possibility of it being an ARG seemed rather reasonable, from what she had read about these types of games, they always seemed to begin with a random post on the internet or some unsettling interaction between a group of users. Yes, it was well within the realm of possibilities.

She snapped back to reality as she stepped onto the concrete platform, waiting in the bright yellow lines that partitioned off each boxcar.

She unconsciously glanced at the people around her, feeling very much at odds with the normalcy in their behavior. Their obliviousness to this whole thing was mildly frightening. Logically, she knew this was due to the fact that they had no idea about this whole 'Guilt' thing, and given the fact that it wasn't even real, but it didn't stop her mind from worrying, for some reason. What would happen if the media caught wind of this? What would happen when the rumor of the virus reached the masses?

She shook her head again. She had to keep reminding herself that this virus wasn't real. It wasn't even believable!

Well, no, that wasn't quite true, was it? There were certain aspects of the 4Chan posts that caught her attention. Some of the details were just… too specific, too believable. It was almost certain to just be another internet hoax, but… but something about those posts peaked her interest. It compelled her to find more information about this virus.

The train squealed to a stop in the station. Her jet black kitten-heeled boots stepped up from the train platform onto the train itself. The space was cramped and congested, as expected for this time of day. She squeezed herself into the crowded terminal, pulling out her phone and bringing up the same 4Chan post from before. Her eyes never left the screen during the entire commute. Sure, she was pushed and shoved, but she was quite used to it.

They believe that medicine has broken the laws of natural selection.

The girl's brow furrowed in both disgust and morbid intrigue as her eyes scanned the text. Surely this couldn't be real, right? Who would even post such a thing? Who would believe something like that, anyway?

Her eyes lit up suddenly. Writing a piece on this insanity of a story… It seemed like a perfect idea.

Before she knew it, her mind was swirling with ideas, possibilities, leads…

'Woah, woah. Back up there, Erin. Gotta cover the bases first.'

Right, remember, Ethos, Pathos, Logos.

Well, pathos and logos were already pretty well established, but what about the credibility? After all, what was a good story without some believability to it?

It was always a good idea to search for a primary source of information. Although she supposed the post technically counted as a primary source, it barely held any credibility to it. After all, it was 4Chan she was dealing with. But tracking down and talking to the author directly– putting a face and a name to these radical claims– well, that could be quite the catch if she wanted to write about this.

She grabbed a cheap black pen out of her bag and jotted a few notes on her forearm.

'track down author' she scribbled down.

All too soon the train lurched to a stop, the monotone voice overhead announcing her stop. She pushed her way off the small car with the rest of the commuters and let her mind wander as she made her way into the office on autopilot. After all, she had no need to be mindful of the direction she was going after all these months.

Her bag slammed down onto her minimally occupied desk. The only things there were her laptop and her thermus, with all of her writing utensils chucked into a drawer underneath.

Without a moment of hesitation she ripped her laptop out of its protective case, booted it up, and got to work on her new project


	2. Chapter 2: Greasy Breakfast Hole

The notepad sat open on her lap as her eyes continued to skim over the thread. On the lined paper was a long list of questions she had for this mysterious original poster. Even though she was situated in a cluttered and hectic office, she easily ignored everything going on around her. It certainly wasn't typical office-dwelling behavior, but it wasn't considered uncommon for her colleagues, either.

A Cheeto came flying out of nowhere and assaulted her shoulder, leaving a smear of orange cheesy goodness on her favorite sweater.

"Erin I swear to God, you better have eaten breakfast this morning." A familiar masculine voice scolded her from behind.

"I did," she said automatically.

"Uh-huh. And I assume you're shaking just because of the air conditioning? That we don't have?"

"Will you can it?! I'm working on something!" She snapped, before taking a calming breath and turning her attention to a clean-shaven but still scruffy looking young man no taller than she, wearing a pair of acid-washed jeans and a polo shirt.

"I'm just… really concentrated on this." She muttered finally.

He snorted. "I can see that."

"Oh, relax." She waved him off. "Plus, I _did_ eat this morning. I had a couple of shots of Dayquil before I left."

"That's… not food." David quipped.

When he didn't get the snarky response he was expecting, he glanced over to his companion, who was biting her lip in clear concentration and furiously typing away on her laptop.

He rolled his desk chair across the room, coming to a stop next to her desk.

"What's caught your intrigue today, my dearest colleague?"

She rolled her eyes, tucking her short red hair behind her ear. "Nothing," she said before adding, "just a personal project. So if you don't mind, I'd like to return to it." And with that she turned back around to her laptop, glancing over her notepad once more before starting to type again.

He grabbed her arm, halting her typing mid-sentence. "I'm pretty sure that can wait until _after_ you've had something to eat. You know, ACTUAL food."

"What? B‐but I'm busy!" She screeched, horrified at the thought of losing her place in the writing. When he didn't relinquish his grasp on her she finally said: "David, I swear to god, if you don't let go of me I will actually kick in your kneecaps."

David raised a brow. Her exhaustion seemed to have shortened her fuse quite a bit.

At David's look, she sighed and tried again. "Look, I know you're concerned, but I really think I have an interesting story developing, and it requires my full attention." She protested as she pulled her arm out of his grip. "It's a damn good story, too. I wouldn't have to worry about rent for a long time—"

"How are you supposed to write if you haven't eaten anything?"

"David, this is really important, just look!" She said, gesturing to the laptop, where she had the thread open. He rolled his eyes but obliged, letting go of her arm in favor of scooping up her laptop and reading its contents.

_At the laboratory I was stationed at, we were testing on the people in the surrounding area to develop a new virus. The main strain of Guilt I worked on was named Triti. It was developed from a failed cancer cure that we managed to get our hands on._

"Okay, that's… kinda fucked up." He mumbled before looking back at her and sighing at her smug expression.

"Okay, I'll admit, it caught my eye, but something like that can't be real, Erin. It's gotta be a hoax. Now c'mon," he said, snatching her arm once more, "I think it's time we get some food in ya. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all."

Before her cold-riddled brain could react, he pressed a hand to the small of her back and began to push her out of her cubicle.

"C'mon David, I'm not feeling so hot." She groaned.

David paused, before shaking his head as he ushered his friend into the elevator. "We'll just go get coffee then."

"Well, alright…" she muttered.

He huffed out a laugh as they continued out of the office doors and down to a diner across the street.

She glared up at David as he pushed them through the door. "This place? Really?"

"What? What's wrong with it?" He asked.

"It's gross…" she mumbled under her breath as they slid into a small booth.

"Calm down, Erin. All diners smell like this." Just to accentuate his point he inhaled, before faltering and doing a horrible job of hiding his cringe as the putrid stench of grease assaulted his senses.

She wheezed out a laugh that sounded a bit more congested than usual, before pulling out her phone and continuing to read the threat where she'd left off.

He sighed heavily at the sight. Boy, when she wanted to do something, she just went ahead and _did it_.

"Alright, so what the fuck did I just read back at the office? Do you want to explain it to me?"

"Isn't it insane?!" She asked eagerly. She was clearly excited about the idea, but she quickly schooled herself, laying her boney elbows down on the table.

"This guy was talking about this… doomsday cult. That's what it sounded like to me, anyway." She began to explain, her eyes never once leaving the screen. "This story just has too much detail for it to be made up! … I wonder if this organization is real, and if the user _chose_ to join it or not…" She wondered aloud, before breaking out her pen and jotting it down on her forearm. At this point her arms were littered with notes.

"Does it?" He asked, starting to get a bit curious. From what he read, it seemed like a hoax, but he knew Erin better than to have fallen so easily for some random internet post. There obviously had to be more to it if it caught her attention.

She nodded, continuing to scrawl the thought onto her skin with one hand while she slid her phone over to him with the other. He picked it up and began reading.

_That was when the US government found us… We had no choice but to flee. After all, we couldn't risk being caught by Caduceus. If we were, they could get a hold of our notes, and use them to develop cures even faster than they were already spitting them out._

David pressed his lips together, before he muttered the first thing that came to mind.

"What the fuck is 'Caduceus'?" He asked.

"I don't know, but it's exciting, isn't it?"

He glanced up, smiling slightly at the excited gleam in her eyes.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. He had to admit, it was an interesting idea. Plus, it always made him happy to see the way Erin's eyes lit up like that whenever she found a story like this. She'd been down in the dumps lately, so seeing this look of elation on her face was always a nice change.

"Can I get you sweethearts anything to eat?" The waitress asked.

David's eyebrows shot up into his hairline as a blush broke out across his face. Erin simply rolled her eyes.

"We're just friends." She simply, very much used to telling others by now.

"Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. It happens all the time," she said.

"Er… w-well, can I get you anything to start with?" She tried again.

"Just a pot of coffee for now, thanks. Oh, and maybe a stack of pancakes." Erin said, and the waitress nodded and left for the kitchen.

"I… thought you weren't hungry?" David questioned suspiciously.

"I'm not, but I didn't think you'd be able to order anything while you were too busy blushing like a virgin."

"Oh my god," he hissed, his cheeks flushing red as he pushed her from across the table. "Don't fucking start with me, Miss Introvert."

"It's your fault for bringing me to this… greasy breakfast… hole."

Before he could comment on that statement the waitress set the pot down on the table, along with two mugs and a small tasse of creamer. David thanked her as she walked away, before turning back to Erin with a sigh.

"Look, I get that it's an interesting story, but still, you can't starve yourself over a story."

"Watch me," Erin muttered into her steaming mug. "With coffee, I can pretty much do anything… including starve myself" she added with a sarcastic tinge to her voice.

"Jesus, Erin, you need to get your priorities straight. Like… how about food? And nutrition? And sleep?"

"Coffee first, then priorities." She uttered, taking a sip and reveling in the heat it brought her shivering body. She looked back up at David and tried to say something before sneezing violently, nearly dropping her mug. She sniffled. "Ugh, this cold is screwing me up."

"Yeah, and you're getting sick because you're not eating."

"No I'm not. I just… haven't had enough Dayquil, clearly." She mumbled into her cup with a frown. "Oh, speaking of which, can we stop by the store and grab some more on the way back to the office?"

"Sure, as long as you eat something, first." Dave replied.

"Fine," she said finally, before picking up the menu and idly flipping through its pages. "I'll see what they have."

He knew she was pouting at the point of him forcing her to eat, but he wasn't too concerned about it. After all, she _had_ to eat at some point.

He sat back, sipping his coffee as he watched his friend flip through the menu and silently contemplated what this 'Caduceus' thing could be.


	3. Chapter 3: That One with the Car

David let out a yawn, glancing down at his phone.

Three in the morning.

Damn, they pulled an all-nighter? It really didn't feel like it.

He looked back over to Erin, who was typing furiously on her keyboard from her position on the floor. She'd apparently managed to track down the original poster, and got into contact with him. She really hadn't given him an update on the situation since.

She knocked back the shot of Dayquil like she was doing a round of shots at a bar. "Alright David, I'm putting money on it; this virus is real." She announced.

Speaking of the devil. He looked up from his spot on the couch, where he was hunched over a laptop of his own.

"I doubt it." He muttered, stretching and leaning back to try to ease his aching muscles. "It's probably just the medicine talkin'."

Her eyes grew wide and she shot up from her spot on the floor. "No, listen, I've been talking to this 'Matthew' guy, and from everything he's saying, it sounds legit!"

"And what is he saying that makes it sound legit?" He asked.

"David, listen to me, he's got dates, he's got times, he's got locations, he's got names… he's got all the details of an insider's look on this!"

"Okay, but what is his motivation? I mean, why would he want to tell us this if he's been working on a secret, man-made virus?"

"See for yourself," she insisted, scrambling up to bring her laptop up off the floor and onto the coffee table in front of him.

'... I think the public needs to know about this; that's why I'm putting it out there. It's almost impossible to cure. There's no vaccine, no nothing. The only way I know to cure it is to remove it through surgery, and we all know that can go south pretty quick….'

"Damn. How the hell'd you even get into contact with this guy?" David asked.

"It was pretty easy, actually. I just had to track down his IP address, find his usernames and list of caches in his internet files—"

"Is any of that legal?"

"No." She kept talking as if she hadn't been rudely interrupted. "But anyway, he seemed pretty damn eager to talk! Made it pretty easy to get details out of him." She said, picking at her nails smugly.

David sighed, although he had to admit he was starting to get interested in the story as well. "Well, did you find out about that 'Caduceus' place?"

She snorted. "Of course I did. 'Said it was in a place called Angeles Bay."

"Yeah?" David questioned.

"Yeah. So, that means we have details, a reputable source, a name, a business, a location," she listed off on her fingers, "all our bases are covered, Dave! So…"

"So…?"

"So can we go? Can we? Can we?" She asked, practically jumping up and down at this point.

"Jesus, Erin, calm down, you're gonna cough up a lung." He teased at her rather blatant display of excitement.

"Who the hell needs lungs when we have a story to chase?? Come on!" She said, tugging at his arm like an excitable toddler.

He sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe we should go after you get over this cold. It sounds like it's getting worse."

She scowled. "I'm fine, David. Besides, we can't waste any time! The rooms are for tonight." She said, racing back over to her desk with a skip in her step and packing up her equipment. "Come on, Dave! Get your camera!" She screeched with excitement.

"What?? Rooms?? Tonight??" He questioned.

"Yeah, the rooms I booked at the hotel in San Francisco. For tonight."

"What?! San Francisco is nine hours away!!"

"Yeah, which is why we have to leave now." She said like it was obvious.

"Wh– We can't just leave now!" He yelled. At Erin's defiant glare, though, he heaved a sigh.

"Erin…" he trailed off. "Look, I know this is potentially a huge story, but… Running around like this, chasing stories and pulling all-nighters… I mean, this isn't good for your health."

She scoffed. "You know what also isn't good for my health? Spending an assload of money on a hotel room and not using it. Come on, let's go!!" She said, tugging him along.

"Erin, you should be staying at home, resting, eating chicken soup… you know, doing normal sick person things."

"Since when am I normal?" She asked automatically as she rushed around the house, gathering her things.

He huffed. "Alright, alright," he said, catching Erin's attention and stopping her in her tracks, "You know what? Let's make a deal, alright? I'll come with you, but only if you promise me you'll go to the ER if this cold gets any worse."

"What cold?" Her voice rang as she practically skipped into the bedroom.

He sighed, but followed her regardless. "Erin, you know exactly what I'm talking about."

Erin glared at him from her small bedroom, where she was currently stuffing clothes haphazardly into a carry-on. "Oh god, Davey, I'll be fine. I can take care of myself! What, do you think I'm a child or something?"

He sputtered. "No! No, I just… I'm just worried about you." He said finally.

"I won't, Jesus, I already agreed to go to the doctors if I felt worse, didn't I?"

"You actually agreed to go to the hospital—"

"Same thing," she waved him off, darting around her small apartment and collecting the rest of her things. "Come on, rush hour is in like four hours."

"Wh— Erin! I can't get my stuff ready in that amount of time!!" He screeched as she bolted out the door. "I mean, sure, I have everything in my car, but—"

There were honks from outside.

"GET IN, I'M DRIVING!" She yelled.

He heaved a sigh, head cast down and shoulders slumped as he trudged outside to his car, which was already running and with a manic Erin behind the wheel, grinning at him like a giddy toddler.

He opened the driver's side door. "Nope, my car, my rules. I'm driving." Dave insisted before ushering his raving friend out before hopping into the driver's seat himself.

She huffed but slid into the passenger's seat, opening her laptop as the green Ford Fiesta pulled out of the driveway.

"You're gonna get carsick if you type while we're driving," he said.

"Oh shut up, I got this." She groused quietly. Her eyes locked onto the screen as she began typing away. Occasionally, she glanced at the notes still written on her arms to add them to her work as she mumbled rewritten sentences to herself.

After a long and tiresome drive to the west coast ("Are there yet, David?? Are we there yet??"), the green Ford pulled into the parking lot of an overly-expensive looking hotel parking lot.

"Jesus Christ," David muttered, getting out of the car and shutting the door.

"I know, isn't it great???" Erin asked excitedly as she too stepped out of the car.

"Uh, yeah, but isn't this place a little… I don't know, too high-end for people like us?"

"No." She said immediately, turning to walk into the sliding glass doors.

He sighed, following her lead. "Erin, this place has marble floors. This flooring alone is worth more than the amount of money that we make in a decade."

"Yeah, well, we won't be making so little for long," she said smugly, before approaching the front desk. "Hi, we're already booked in." She said.

The dressed-up desk attendant gave them both a demeaning look, before slowly pulling a pristine tablet in front of him to begin typing something in. "Names, ma'am?"

"Erin Byrne and David Reyes" she replied and presented her driver's license to the desk attendant.

The gentleman glanced over it for a moment and handed it back "Alright , you're all set." squeaked "Also….Mathew left some notes for you in your room. He wanted me to let you know that they were of the utmost importance " He said

"...Mathew paid for this?" David asked in shock. They began making their way up to the room.

"Yeah he sure did! " she chirped

"Free of charge? Without a hitch?" he asked with a tinge of skepticism in his voice "You arent wary of this 'Matthew' at all?"

"...Of course I am. I just don't think I shouldn't turn away such a kind gesture as this." she noted as she skipped gleefully into the elevator.

David sighed "You really need to be, but who am I to say that…"

"Who cares. We have a really nice room to spend the night in and we're gonna get up fucking early tomorrow and go chase a story. " She nudged Dave with her elbow repeatedly "Doesn't that sound fun, David? Doesn't it? Doesn't it?" She mumbled with a childish grin plastered across her face.

"Save your energy for tomorrow, Erin. Go to bed, you're sick, remember?" They both walked into a rather lavish, but conventional looking hotel room, furnished with two beds that were looking more and more comfortable to Erin with every passing second; but to say she were exhausted would be admitting defeat.

She got her laptop out and flopped onto the bed "Nah, I'm gonna do more research and writing." She replied with the same childish grin from before.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4: Opportunity Knocks

Early the next morning, they had finally reached their destination. It was hard to reach, and the ambiance reflected that; it seemed like the region's own Area 51. Erin glanced up from her work as the car rumbled into a shaded area. Her hazel eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"Holy hell what the fuck is this place?" she asked, curiosity and disbelief lacing her voice.

"My phone says this is the place." David said, parking the car in a vacant spot. Erin was packed up and out of the car in the blink of an eye.

Dave sighed, turning the key out of the ignition and pocketing the item. "They probably won't even let us in…" Dave mumbled as he exited the car and followed behind his eager counterpart.

She rolled her eyes. "It's fine, we'll just interview whoever is outside. There's no harm in trying."

"I mean, there kind of is," David muttered as he eyed the fifth security camera they'd come across within the span of forty seconds of walking from their car.

Despite the elevated security, their trip from the parking garage to the main building had gone so far without incident, and it almost seemed it would stay that way.

"Stop where you are." A demanding if not somewhat annoyed voice boomedover a pair of speakers near the door.

"Don't move." The voice commanded. A soft click could be heard above the metal doors as a small camera lens flicked out into the open.

"What the hell is that??" Erin whispered.

"A camera. I… think they're scanning us,"

"What?! How can they scan us with a camera?"

"I don't know, technology?" He hissed back.

There was a whirring noise, and another click as the camera lens hid again behind a panel.

"Good," the original voice said, before a stubborn looking man emerged from the pair of sliding metal doors.

"Is this an emergency?" Asked the same voice, this time in person. "Were you sent here by another hospital?" he demanded.

"N-No Mr… um..." David glanced down to the man's name tag. "Niguel. We're here on a… on a lead."

"We want to know about something called 'Guilt'." Erin butted in. "Do you know anything about it?" She questioned, getting right into her element quickly.

The short, agitated man gave her a suspicious look, scanning her up and down with his eyes, before doing the same to her companion.

"Come with me." he grumbled, sounding much more annoyed than he did over the speaker. He walked into the building, not waiting for them to catch up. Not that he needed to; Erin followed behind closely, with David trailing after her.

Victor blew air out of his nose in annoyance as he heard the pair follow him into the building. Damn, he was half-hoping they would have gotten intimidated and left.

This was troubling, though. This wasn't something they had released to the media yet, so how did these two civilians know about it?

Well, regardless, he'd need much more to intimidate these two out of the building.

"Dr. Chase!" he hollered to a nearby blond man, absentmindedly looking down at his smartphone. Said blonde looked up and smiled, pocketed his phone and made his way over.

David furrowed his brow. He certainly didn't look the type to be a doctor. Not that he believed in stereotypes, but this guy looked like the classic, run-of-the-mill dumb blonde who was probably a jock in high school.

The shorter man then turned to look at the two reporters, crossing his arms. "You're not supposed to be here unless you're in dire need of medical attention. So I'll ask you again; what are you doing here?" He questioned them.

David sighed, expecting Erin to quip back something smarmy. 'We already told you, we're here for the story!'

But instead of hearing a trademark retort, the question was met with silence. David turned to Erin questioningly, only to see the color drain from her face.

Before he could react, her eyes rolled into her head and she listed dangerously to the side.

"Shit. Erin!" David yelled, rushing to catch her before her head cracked on the tile.

Victor's eyebrows meet his hairline, meanwhile Dr. Chase rushed to his side."Oh shit," he muttered, before hollering out "Leslie! LESLIE! GET A ROOM READY." he hollered at no one in particular

"Tyler, will you be quiet?" Victor hissed from behind "You're gonna wake up the patient in 103."

Tyler ignored him, of course, while his nurse, Leslie, rushed beside him and placed her fingers on Erin's neck.

"Her heart rate is elevated." Leslie stated, before rushing away, only to come back just as quickly with a gurney.

Tyler went to help Dave lift Erin onto the bed. As soon as she landed on the cold foam mattress the three of them were off running, with David pushing the bed, Tyler steering the vessel, Leslie jotting down something onto a clipboard, and Victor watching from the entryway.

"Well, this is going to be fun." He muttered under his breath.

Before long they burst into an empty hospital room.

"I'm going to need you to prep a glucose drip!" Tyler called out, despite Leslie already halfway out the door to grab the required materials.

"Has this happened before?" Tyler asked once Erin was laid in the bed.

"N-no!" He shrieked. "Nothing like this has ever happened before!"

Tyler nodded, turning back down to the patient and placing two fingers to the side of her neck, th

"Don't worry sir, she probably just needs a good nap and some food." Leslie suggested in her usually chipper tone. "Are you two friends?" She asked in an attempt to lighten the mood and keep David calm.

"...I can stick around her right? She doesn't have any family around here as far as I know. "

After a few hours, Erin's eyes slowly slid open, She reached up slowly to rub them as She adjusted to the fluorescent lights.

"This is why I tell you to eat!" David's muffled voice said angrily, he was flustered with her; but did expect this to happen at some point, after all this wouldn't be the first time she ran herself into the ground.

"...This is why I tell you to eat…." She mocked him in a slurred voice as she came to.

He turned his attention back to the guard and Tyler. "So sorry about this. Guess we'll be going." he stated in a defeated tone. He then bent down and flung Erin over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Erin reactively grabbed David's ear "...the fuck, David. I don't have time to eat, you of all people should know that. "

"...That normal?" Tyler finally spoke as he watched David pick the girl up. " The passing out thing, not the casual boyfriend abuse…."

Dave rolled his eyes and groaned "It's rare for her, but yes. She loves to run herself into the ground."

The petite dark haired nurse walked up to the group and glared at him for a split moment before returning to her usual smile. "Now...what do you need? A room? Care to give me a hand?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone, although it was meant as a jab.

Tyler nodded "Maybe don't leave just yet. Just because she's awake doesn't necessarily mean she's good to go."

David shook his head and laughed "I don't disagree with you on that doc, but trying to keep her in bed when she's after something….? Damn near impossible…"

"Coffee and dayquil solves all." Erin interjected, almost sounding drunk off the stuff.

"I swear to God those are the only two reasons you haven't crashed and burned yet." David replied in annoyance as he laid her back down "Why don't you actually listen to the guy with the medical degree, eh?"

"Coffee to keep you awake, but what do you need dayquil for?" Tyler asked curiously standing at the foot of her bed.

Erin shrugged "Not sure, i've had one hell of a wet cough for like a month now. I wasn't too worried about it, but the worrywart over there was , so I started doing shots of dayquil to keep myself going." She explained. "I thought it would have gone by now, but...It's not really getting in the way of anything, nor is it getting better. "

"To be honest, your lungs sound pretty gnarly, so I'm not surprised; But, a month?" He asked "...and you didn't think to see a doctor even once?"

David looked at Erin out of the corner of his eye, a small smile on his face. He looked mildly relieved to know She had landed in the hospital.

"Why would I go to the doctor for a stupid cold?" She snorted "...what are they gonna do? Tell me to sleep?" She asked rhetorically "Pure genius, honestly. "

"Well, yeah obviously. To, you know, make sure it doesn't turn into pneumonia, but it seems like it already has, so I'm not gonna lecture you. " he responded."Get some sleep. I'll be back in a few hours "

Erin sat there silently for a few moments, contemplating what Dr.Chase had just left her with "...five bucks says he was a frat boy in college…" She blurted with a giggle.

A few more moments of silence passed before her eyes lit up and she started to get out of bed "Dave, this is perfect. Get your phone out, we're going to go poke around. " She squeaked

"Erin, no. Please for the love of God get some sleep like you were told. The story can wait. "

She looked back at him with a gleam in her eye '...I'll supply you with two months worth of cheetos if you come with me…"

* * *

Thanks for the patience. Just started a new job and didn't really have time to write.

Thanks to my co-author, Jordyntoaster for helping with grammar and such thus far.


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